Management of wide area networks is complex, especially for wide area networks that employ network elements provided by different vendors. For example, network elements provided by different vendors typically output messages in different formats. Consequently, a network management system (“NMS”) of a wide area network must be configured to process messages in all of the different formats used by the network elements in the wide area network. In order to add a new network element that supports a new message format to a wide area network or in order to modify an existing message format, significant work must be performed to reconfigure the NMS to process messages in the new or modified message format. This typically involves significant work by operators of the NMS and may include interrupting normal operation of the wide area network to take down the NMS to install updated software, middleware, and/or firmware code.
To illustrate, a wide area network typically includes network elements that employ different message formats for alarm messages. Consequently, a network surveillance application in an NMS must be able to interpret alarm messages in all of the alarm message formats employed by the network elements. This is inconvenient and burdensome for operators of the network management system, especially when the NMS, including the network surveillance application, must be reconfigured to support a new or modified alarm message format.